Random Real Estate Stuff

Since I don’t have anything substantive to post, I figured I would post a few interesting articles I came across on owning a home or buying/flipping property. I know that people who come here would rather have me tell them what to think than have to think for themselves, but you should really read these articles anyway. That way, if we ever meet at a cocktail party and there’s an awkward silence, you can bring up these articles and we can have some common frame of reference to bond over and feel like we have known each other our whole lives. Otherwise, I’ll make a clumsy excuse about needing more micro-brewed beer and feel even more awkward when you say you need some too and offer to come with me.


Here’s an article from Market Watch (a good place for ideas for my ninja stock picks) titled Fixer-uppers can be dreams or money pits

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/Story.aspx?guid=%7B77820FBF-A103-4A81-99DC-7321D9B8BB11%7D&siteid=

I think this article is noteworthy for a couple of things. One, the understatement of the century:

Although people still romanticize the concept of the fixer-upper, finding a diamond in the rough and restoring it to its former glory isn't always a pleasant experience.

That’s like Mrs. Lincoln saying that she didn’t enjoy the play as much as she thought she would.
And this piece of good advice:

And when you get discouraged midway through, go to a finished room, light a candle and enjoy a glass of wine, Silva said. It's hard work, but a home brought back to life -- with your style infused throughout its walls -- is often worth the effort.

If you replace “light a candle” with “drink beer” and “enjoy a glass of wine” with “surf the internet looking for things the nuns said would land you in hell”, then I agree with the stress technique 100%.





Things that make you go Hmmmmmm….

Partners in Life, Partners in Homebuying
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5616644


This from NPR, it’s an interesting broadcast on unmarried people who buy homes together to break into the housing market. Aside from asking a question to a real estate broker, it’s a good analysis. Every real estate broker thinks that everybody should buy a house…right now! Asking one if it’s a good idea for anyone to buy a house is like asking a crack dealer if they think it’s a good idea to buy some crack. If you don’t want to listen to the whole article, here’s the Cliff’s Notes version: Buying a home together can be a good idea, but if you are unmarried, you should get a written agreement because if you aren't married, then you can’t split property up like a married couple if you breakup.


This is article from USA today. It talks about how, for some people, renting makes more sense than buying.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/housing/2006-08-09-rent-1a-usat_x.htm

I think that sorta goes without saying. That’s like saying, eating cheese doesn’t make sense for some people (unless you don’t mind the bloating, cramps and farting that come from lactose intolerance). The lesbians in the article (who are so unattractive that if I pictured them doing girl/girl stuff to each other I would probably be sick) decided to sell their house in San Fransisco that they bought for $1 million and rent an apartment because the house payments were too high. Gee, who knew the mortgage payments on a million dollar house would be so expensive? In other news, letting your friends kick you in the nuts when you’re bored is not such a good idea.

Also...I interviewed to be on a real estate show on TV yesterday. This deserves a separate post. Tune in Next Week.